Your travel window
Sets the round-trip airfare baseline. Pick “driving” to zero out flight costs, or type your ZIP below to auto-select your nearest airport.
We’ll estimate round-trip mileage and fuel cost. Only US destinations within driving range are shown.
Range of months you could actually travel. We’ll check every month in the window.
Kids 3–12 are counted at roughly 60% of adult food/ground costs. Under 3s contribute almost nothing to costs.
Everything in: flights, lodging, food, ground. Conservative.
Leave all unchecked to see every destination.
Fill in your window on the left, then we’ll rank destinations.
Free
Found a destination that fits?
I’ll email you the Vacation Math Starter Pack (a printable 13-page PDF on hidden trip costs, how to fund a trip without debt, and what points are actually worth) plus the Tuesday brief: one real trip with the math worked out, every week.
How the date-window ranking works
Trip Finder does not start with a dream destination. It starts with the weeks you can actually leave and the cash you can spend. Each destination is priced for that window: round-trip airfare from the airport you pick, lodging, and on-the-ground costs. A Caribbean week in September and the same week in March are different rows. The list you get is a ranking, not a brochure.
Three tools, three questions. Finder (this page): the dates are fixed, the place is not. Trip Plan: the place is fixed, the budget is the constraint. Reverse budget: the cash is fixed, and you want trip types rather than a calendar. City writeups live in the money guides. When a place rises to the top, open its guide or hand the destination to Trip Plan before you book.
Trip Finder — common questions
How does the destination finder rank trips?
You enter a departure city, the weeks you could travel, party size, budget, and trip style. The page ranks destinations for that window with 2026 airfare, lodging, and ground costs. A place that is cheap in September can fall out of a July window.
How is this different from Trip Plan and reverse budget?
Finder starts with dates and ranks places. Trip Plan starts with a place and a hard number. Reverse budget starts with cash and ranks trip types, without a date window. Use Finder when the calendar is the constraint.
Does the ranking include flights?
Yes. The airport you pick sets a 2026 round-trip baseline. Choose driving only when you are not flying. Totals are estimates, not live fares.
Why did a place I like rank poorly?
The score is value for the weeks you picked, not how much you want to go. Peak dates, a long flight, or a style filter can push a favorite down. Widen the months or raise the budget. If you are going anyway, switch to Trip Plan and itemize that destination.